Oil regulator Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) today said that it has extended the bidding date for Mehsana-Bhatinda mega gas pipeline project, by over a month.

"We have extended the last date of bid submission for the Mehsana-Bhatinda pipeline project by one month," PNGRB Chairman L Mansingh said.

The multi-crore project will involve a 960 kilometre pipeline connecting Mehsana in North Gujarat to Bhatinda in Punjab, and a 440 kilometre extension to Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, PNGRB official said.

"The closing date for submission of bids will now be August 17," he said.

"The issue raised about the Mehsana-Bhatinda pipeline which is a major pipeline was that it does not originate from a source of gas, so in this case one is actually hooking up with the GSPC pipeline," he said.

"One of the serious bidder raised an issue as to what was the spare capacity of the GSPC pipeline at Mehsana, so we had asked them (GSPC) to specify that," Mansingh said.

"We have got a confirmation from GSPC that it has existing 10 mmscmd capacity at Mehsana, which can be ramped up to 30 mmscmd," he said.

Apart from Gujarat State Petronet (GSPL), a subsidiary of state run Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) the other companies which have bidded for this mega gas pipeline project are L&T, GAIL, Essar project and Nagarjuna Fertilisers.